A RADIOACTIVE ISIS? ‘Dangerous’ Material Stolen From Iraq Oil Depot

A desperate hunt for “highly dangerous” radioactive material is on in Iraq, where officials fear it could be used to make a “dirty bomb” if in the hands of ISIS, according to a government official in Baghdad.

The material, stored in a case the size of a laptop, disappeared from a storage facility near the southern city of Basra in November, Reuters reported. It was in the possession of Houston-based oil industry contractor Weatherford, according to a document obtained by the news agency.

The document describes “the theft of a highly dangerous radioactive source of Ir-192 with highly radioactive activity belonging to SGS from a depot belonging to Weatherford in the Rafidhia area of Basra province.”

The report comes on the heels of news that the Islamic terrorist organization has chemical weapons that it has used on the Kurds.

A spokesman for Iraq’s environment ministry told Reuters he could not discuss the issue due to national security concerns. A Weatherford spokesman in Iraq also declined to comment.

The missing material is used to test flaws in pipelines in a process called industrial gamma radiography, and was owned by Istanbul-based SGS Turkey, according to the document and officials. More

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